Julie BroadYour Non-Fiction Sidekick for Writing, Publishing & Marketing a Book That Builds Your Brand and Grows Your Biz

Think Your Book Title Is Great? Think Again. #authorproblems #bookmarketing #fallintoshorts

30 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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Julie Broad argues that many authors fall in love with titles that are meaningful to them but won’t sell. Using examples of concise, memorable titles (e.g., 'Mean People Suck'), she emphasizes that a title functions as a billboard: it must be short, easy to say, memorable, and prompt the ideal reader to lean in. She offers a concrete 4-part test (three words or less; easy to say; provokes curiosity in the ideal reader; is remembered minutes later) and advises testing titles aloud and revising until they pass at least three of the four checks.

Chapters

I love my title. When an author says that to me, the title is almost always about them. Their story or the title is meaningful to them. But it's not a good title. It's not going to sell the book. I had one author tell me the title makes so much sense after you read my book. In that moment, I had to temper my response, but I wanted to scream at him. Your title needs to sell your book so that someone actually reads your book. The title is the billboard for your book. We've worked on more than 800 books and we have some epic titles. Some of my favorite titles Mean People Suck. Purposeful Performance before the Next Tragedy, Wisdom To Be Wealthy. I could go on. But within those few short words, you start to see if the book is for you or not for you. You can remember it, you can say it. It has rhythm. If it's long, forgettable, or hard to say, people won't remember it. And if they can't remember it, they can't recommend it. And they can't remember to so here's the test you need to run your title through. Is it three words or less? Ideally, there's always exceptions. Can people say it easily? Does it make your ideal reader lean in and say tell me more? If you tell somebody your title and you ask a few minutes later if they remember, do they? If you don't pass at least three out of four of these tests, go back and work on your title. So before you fall in love with a clever idea, test it out loud. Because a title that sells itself will do more for you than than 1,000 hashtags could ever do to help you get your book into readers hands.